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Lasorda thankful for support of friends, fans

Lasorda thankful for support of friends, fans

LOS ANGELES -- Tommy Lasorda returned to Dodger Stadium on Saturday for the first time since suffering a mild heart attack on June 4 in New York City.

"I pulled through," he said in the dugout surrounded by reporters.

The former Dodgers manager said he was feeling better and he wanted to thank everyone for all the support he received while recovering. He said he received over 300 phone calls and he couldn't stress how appreciative he was for each and every one.

The 84-year-old made a point to give a special thank you to Commissioner Bud Selig and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre for forcing him to go the hospital in the first place.

After telling former Diamondback Luis Gonzalez he was feeling woozy while at the First-Year Player Draft, medics took Lasorda's blood pressure and said he needed to go to the hospital.

"I said, 'I ain't going to no hospital,'" he said. "And they said, 'You have to go.' "

"The Commissioner came over and said, 'You're going to that hospital.' Joe Torre came over and said, 'You are going to that hospital,'" he added with a laugh. "So I said, 'I guess I'm going to the hospital.'"

"They put me in an ambulance on a stretcher and that guy was driving that ambulance and he must have been hitting every pothole on the way," he said. "I was shaking up and I thought I was one of Charlie Hough's knuckleballs from New Jersey to New York."

Lasorda said he has been taking it easy since being released, thanks to the orders from his doctor, wife and basically everyone else, he said.

Lasorda added it was like he was on a merry-go-round before the heart attack with how busy his schedule was.

"We want to take it slow," manager Don Mattingly said. "Tommy is go go go, so hopefully he'll take it easy."

Although he is taking it slow, Lasorda said he's not going to stop working.

"I'm going to do all I can," he said. "I ain't going to stop."

He added he was frightened at the time because he didn't feel anything. He said he later found out that three of the arteries were great, but the fourth had a 90 percent block.

The doctors opened it up, put a stent in there and said he was ready to go. He added he even feels stronger now.

Lasorda said he's going to have to give up a lot of foods, including pasta, which he said he could eat every day if allowed. By mid-afternoon on Saturday, he had only eaten a bowl of oatmeal and he expected to just have salad for dinner.

"I've got to lose the weight," said Lasorda, who once lost 40 pounds on a diet plan.